We are only a month into 2012 and already this month I have met the greatest collection of people that I have ever met here in Chiang Mai.

Many of these people,mostly men thus far , are true Global citizens. My latest is a man in his early forties. He grew up in England than hit the road in his twenties for the next 26 years. He has lived primarily in Asia, New Zealand and Australia. A web designer by profession he is currently finding it challenging to support himself because of the outsourcing , mainly to India and the Philipines that has been happening in recent times.

He is a well spoken , compassionate man. It was rather mind blowing to hear that he had spend last summer in Toronto. Not only had he lived in Toronto but indeed stayed within a kilometre of my home in Toronto in the Beaches. He counts Toronto has a great city to live in.

I was thinking of my living in Toronto this morning as I woke up. It is not that I miss Toronto in any way while I’m living here in Chiang Mai , Thailand it is more that I enjoy the libraries , the beach and my friends in Toronto when I’m living there.

Living is so easy here in Chiang Mai. One can afford to eat all one’s meals at a restaurant. I find a restaurant I enjoy and go mostly always there. At the moment it is Satava Yoga restaurant.

The meals are cooked by a lovely Thai woman who is passionate about cooking. They are literally home cooked meals as she has not had any formal training. The price of the meals are very competitive but the juices are a bargain at 30 Baht.

She told me she buys her food every afternoon from the same  elderly woman. The food is of very high quality.

I ordered the same breakfast every morning during the first month upon arriving to this new neighbourhood in Chiang Mai.

Now, I sit down and breakfast is served to me without my needing to order it. Recently, the place was packed and I was curious to see how long it would take to be noticed and fed. I’m happy to report that within ten minutes my veggie omelette appeared in front of me as I was chatting away with one of the other diners.

I marvel at someone who has traveled and lived outside his or her home country for such a long time.

We talked about my favorite city Paris. I read about a famous English book store called,”Shakespeare”. It is very unusual book store in that it supports struggling writers by allowing them to live upstairs rent free.

This young man had spend time at the Shakespeare book store and had chatted with some of the writers who lived there . This is an experience I look forward to having.

Until tomorrow my dear reader, enjoy every moment as it is very precious. Indeed, count your blessings and be grateful . If you are reading this you have much to be thankful for.